


Prompt: "It was children... They were all children...."

by dodosindamnation



Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21904576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dodosindamnation/pseuds/dodosindamnation
Summary: Drabble based off an ask I got on Tumblr that is around as angsty as the title would suggest, to be honest
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil & Creativity | Roman & Logic | Logan & Morality | Patton
Series: Tumblr Prompts [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1577833
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	Prompt: "It was children... They were all children...."

Virgil bit his lip as he paced around the room. Something was wrong. He didn’t know what, or where, or why, or who was involved, but he knew something was wrong. He could feel it. Something had happened, probably to one of his family. Patton, or Logan, or Roman.

He wondered if he was just on edge. Paranoid because of the new project Roman had been sent on. The people in charge wanted to see how far his powers could reach, how much he could do in one go. Yeah, that must be it. It wouldn’t be the first time Virgil had gotten overly anxious over nothing at all before, so who was to say that that wasn’t the case now? He managed to cling to the hope for a few more seconds, before it crumbled in his mind. No, this was definitely real. But _what was it_?

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, and it burst open a second later. Virgil’s wide eyes found Patton, his friend’s own eyes wide and his chest panting, as if he’d run all the way from his wing to Virgil’s.

“Pat? What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Patton panted. “Virge– ‘S Roman. I dunno what’s– what’s wrong, but Lo texted me. Something happened.”

Virgil’s heart dropped to his stomach. He knew it. He knew that something was wrong! Why didn’t he stop it? Why didn’t he help? He could’ve helped! He could’ve–

“Virge! Please. I don’t know if he’s hurt or– or– I dunno. We just need to go.”

“Where is he?” Virgil whispered.

“His room. Virge, please, come on. He’s asking for us.”

Virgil swallowed thickly. “Okay. Okay, I’m coming. Hold on.” He started to pull on his shoes, trying to ignore Patton shifting his weight from foot to foot in the doorway, trying to ignore how his thoughts screamed at him, trying to drown out the sound of Patton’s heavy breathing and blood rushing in his ears because it was loud, loud, _too loud_!

A hand landed on his shoulder and he jerked. He couldn’t breathe. And now Patton was sat next to him, frowning, talking, _staring_ , and all Virgil could do was suffocate on his own breath.

“Virge, kiddo, it’s okay. It’s alright, I’m sure Roman’s fine. Hey, he’d be in the hospital room if it was really bad, right? I’m sure it’s nothing. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have jumped you like that.”

Virgil managed to get one full inhale, and then a few more. “We– we need to go. We need to go. Now.”

Patton shook his head slightly. “No, not until you’re—”

“I’m fine. Come on.”

Virgil’s heart was beating hard in his chest as he ran, and it had nothing to do with the excursion. He was ahead of Patton by a few metres, but neither seemed to care. They ignored scientists and soldiers and everyone else as they ran, too busy worrying, panicking, to care about their ranks or their protocol or their manners. Because Roman was in trouble, and Roman needed their help and Roman, Roman, _Roman_ …

Virgil arrived at the room, his heart still beating hard and fast, pressing against his ribs painfully. He turned the door handle, and froze when it refused to go any further. Locked.

Why was it locked? Roman never locked his door. Was someone else in there? Were they hurting him? And where was Logan? Was he in there as well, were they both in trouble?

Patton’s hand suddenly landed on Virgil’s back, pulling him from his thoughts.

“Virge, knock. Do the knock.”

The— Oh. Of course, the knock. He glanced at Patton thankfully, ignoring how his friend was frowning, ignoring how scared he was, ignoring how quiet it was in the room and out of the room and everything else. Ignoring it all.

He knocked on the door, a strange rhythm Roman had made up to identify each other. A second later, the door swung open.

“Virgil, Patton,” Logan breathed. Virgil could see the relief in his eyes. “Come in, please.”

He stepped back. Virgil hurried inside, pulling Patton with him. Roman was sat on the bed, staring at the wall, his shoulders hunched. Virgil froze. Why was he so… small, all of a sudden?

Stepping forward, Patton said, “Ro? Are you okay, kiddo?”

Roman flinched. “I— don’t call me that.”

Patton frowned and sat down. “Okay? Hey, buddy, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Virgil swallowed thickly. He couldn’t stop shifting his weight — he just couldn’t stand still.

Roman looked at Patton, and Virgil’s breath caught in his throat. His friend’s eyes were red and bloodshot, glassy and unfocused, his cheeks streaked with tears and his hair unkempt and hanging across his face.

“Oh, Roman… What happened? Is this about… Is this about your mission?”

“They said I’d… I’d win the war. I would single-handedly defeat a whole army. By myself. I mean— What was I supposed to say? No?”

Patton frowned, wrapping an arm around Roman’s shoulder. “Ro… why’s that gotten you so sad?”

“Because it worked, Patton. It worked, and—” A harsh sob tore its way out of his throat.

“Oh, Roman…” Patton whispered. Roman buried his head in the crook of Patton’s neck. “Oh, my poor baby. It’s okay. It’s alright. Hush, now. You’re okay. What happened?”

Roman sobbed. Virgil stared in horror from his position in the doorway, his gaze shifting from Patton’s back to Roman’s hair to Logan’s worried eyes.

“Romes… shhh, just breathe. It’s okay, you’re alright,” Patton murmured. He rubbed wide lines on Roman’s back.

“It— it— I—”

Patton shushed him again. “Okay, just breathe. Breathe, kiddo, you’re okay. You’re alright.”

Roman cried for what felt to Virgil like a lifetime. Finally, after Virgil and Logan had sat down, each of them petting Roman somehow, he managed to calm himself down enough to talk.

“Ro?” Virgil said quietly.

“They… they said it was good. What I was doing— they said it was _good_.”

“Yeah?”

“Guys… I think we’re the villains,” he whispered.

“What?” Logan snapped. “That’s ridiculous. There is no such—”

“Lo, not right now, buddy. Ro? Carry on. Take your time, it’s okay.”

“They lied to me. Patton… they were children…”

Virgil saw Patton frown from where he was sat behind Roman. “What? Who were children?”

“The army. The army that they made me kill. I killed them. It was children, Pat, they were all children…”

“Roman, what? What do you mean?”

“I didn’t _know_ ,” Roman cried, sobbing again. “I had no idea! They wouldn’t let me see who I was— who they were! They said the faces would throw me off and—”

“Okay, Roman, it’s okay. We… we’ll sort this out. Okay? Everything will be okay.”

“No! No, Patton! This whole time, they hailed us as heroes! They said we’d save the world, they—”

“I know,” Patton said. Virgil could hear the fact that he was trying not to cry himself. He knew that they were all thinking the same thing: how many other lies were there?

“Maybe… Maybe we still are,” Logan said desperately. “Maybe the… that army was just… a one-off. Perhaps it was merely a means to an end.”

Roman pulled away from Patton suddenly, turning to glare at Logan. “ _None_ of them were older than _fifteen_ , Logan. _We are the bad guys_! I killed children! Thousands of them! That isn’t something a hero would ever do, it isn’t something the good guys would ever even _consider_! We’re the villains!”

“Roman, calm down. We’ll handle this. Okay? We’ll leave, change sides—”

Virgil interrupted Patton. “They said that if Roman beat this army, the war was won. He beat the army. There is no side to change to now.”

They all stared at each other, trapped in their own thoughts. The war was over.

But they hadn’t won…


End file.
